UPDATE: Jumah At The DNC A Bust

Jumah At The DNC, a two day event sponsored by the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), did not turn out as organizers expected this past Saturday. As was previously reported, BIMA and the speakers listed for the event have ties to Muslim extremist groups such as CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. The event was listed on the Democratic National Convention website under official pre-convention events until 24 hours before it was supposed to take place, at which time it was removed seemingly due to the public outcry that it was listed as an official event in the first place. According to NBC, a senior official of the DNC host committee confirmed negligence on their part for approving the event:

“This event, like many others on the page, was user generated,” a senior Host Committee official told NBC News on Friday. “Upon further review, and because speakers for the event and statements and positions from event organizers were not appropriate and relevant to the Host Committee, Charlotte in 2012 has decided to remove the event from our events calendar.”

While BIMA expected 20,000 attendees at their event, only 300 people showed up. Jibril Hough, spokesman for BIMA, stated he believes the DNC host committee “caved into pressure. They caved into bigotry.” Hough also expressed frustration that the FBI had visited a local Imam the Thursday before the event, despite the fact that the visit was in response to a request from a local Muslim member of the community. At least one Muslim attendee of the Jumah event stated he didn’t see a problem with the FBI doing their job, underscoring the original concern on the part of many that Hough and BIMA do not represent the Muslim community for which they claim to speak.